Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $548,000 Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 570.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,984 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,897 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the third quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 3.9%

NYSE:FCX opened at $59.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.81. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $69.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.02 billion, a PE ratio of 39.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total value of $9,888,864.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,356,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,975,679.35. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918 in the last ninety days. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Clarkson Capital upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Argus upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.